She's Leaving Home

I'm experiencing the universal pangs of sadness when you realize your child who was once your babe in arms is readying herself to embark on her next chapter. I've readied myself in the usual ways- she's been to sleep away camp so we've sent her off before to places unknown (yes her sleep away camp was so far away that we never actually got there- which in her way she preferred knowing this special place was not something she ever had to share with mom and dad..).

It's hard not to enjoy the many bubbles of excitement that all the preparations of going off to college create and I am happy for her. Wistful for me and with anxiety for us all. Life propels us forward and there is no turning back.
(and I am reminded of my own childhood- when my eldest brother headed off to college and I realized that we were not going to all live together forever. Some things never change.)